Tassie tops nation in fatal opioid overdoses

TASMANIA had the highest accidental death rate from prescribed opioid use in the country bar the Northern Territory, a report found.

TASMANIA had the highest accidental death rate from prescribed opioid use in the country bar the Northern Territory, a report found.

The report, by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, said a "significant proportion" of prescribed opioids in Tasmania were being diverted for illegal sale compared to other areas.

However, many recommendations from the report, released in 2012 and the latest to look at the issue, still have not been fully implemented, Tasmania's Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Council chief executive Jan Smith said yesterday.

North-West detectives this week said they were searching for the sources of illegally sold morphine, which since December last year has emerged in the region for the first time.

The NDARC report urged more careful prescribing of opioids, and more assessment by prescribers of whether patients were diverting or misusing the drugs.

Tasmanian drug users were more likely to obtain prescription opioids illegally from a dealer than their mainland counterparts, even when using them for pain.

The report said patients may have been diverting opioids, including morphine and oxycodone, because of heroin's scarcity in the state.

Tasmania had Australia's highest rate of all oxycodone-related deaths.

However, the report found that the state had been effective in containing the harms arising from prescription opioids.

"There is more to do to reduce the harms amongst those with chronic pain, drug dependence, or both," the report said.

Prescribing of opioid pain- killers in Tasmania increased from 19,300 scripts in 1999 to 127,400 scripts in 2010, following a national trend.

More morphine and oxycodone was prescribed in Tasmania per 100,000 persons compared to most other areas in Australia.

Prescribers were concerned about chronic pain management in general practice and about the reliance on opioid painkillers for chronic pain, the report said.

Ms Smith said report recommendations to improve management of patients with chronic non-malignant pain had not been fully met.

She said it was important opioids were not the only strategy used to manage pain.Detective Senior Sergeant Darren Woolley said police were still assessing the sources of morphine traded illegally in the North-West.